


There Are No Emperors

by schneefink



Category: Campaign: Skyjacks (Podcast), Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Wars Fusion, Clone Wars, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen, Order 66 (Star Wars)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-07
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27439408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/schneefink/pseuds/schneefink
Summary: Gable might never have accepted Jonnit as their Padawan if Travis hadn't threatened to do it himself.(That would have turned out worse for the galaxy.)
Kudos: 10





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I started writing this because of the stray thought "Nodoze would definitely be Gable's clone commander." The rest just happened.  
> The fic is written, I just need to finish editing.

Gable might never have accepted Jonnit as their Padawan if Travis hadn't threatened to do it himself. Not that he could, since he wasn't a Jedi, as Gable pointed out. Travis had just shrugged. 

"You're the one always telling me that I can feel this mysterious Force thing," he said. "Are you finally admitting that that was a lie?"

"No, of course not," Gable began.

"See? The kid needs someone to teach him the ways of the Force, you don't want him, he doesn't want to leave. Seems like I'm the best option around."

Gable didn't even want to think about what a Padawan taught by Travis Matagot might turn out like. 

Jonnit himself never seemed to have any doubts that Gable would be his Master from the moment he'd arrived. He'd shown up in the middle of their deployment with a letter from the council declaring him Gable's Padawan, and when Gable had protested that that couldn't be right he'd said that Master Yoda had said they'd say that and had said to remind them that they'd been told this would happen if they never returned to the Temple. Which was, admittedly, true.

Gable had still done their best to ignore him for the next several days. Meanwhile, Jonnit had hung around the clones, listening wide-eyed to their war stories and getting them on his side. When finally not only Spit, who was always annoying, but even Nodoze indicated that he thought Jonnit would make a worthy Padawan, it had only been a matter of time until Gable gave in. 

***

Really, teaching Jonnit wasn't that hard. Gable just had to tell him not to run off on his own and to stay out of the most intense battles, and tell Nodoze to keep an eye on him for when he didn't listen, which thankfully was less often than they'd feared. Jonnit was a sensible boy. Brash, unsurprisingly, and confident in his abilities, but not arrogant either, and aware of the fact that Gable, and even Travis and Nodoze and the rest of the crew, could do things that he couldn't, despite his huge talent in the Force. He didn't resent them for it either.

In the Force, Jonnit shone like a beacon. Gable never mentioned it, but Travis gave them a look sometimes when it was even brighter than normal. Gable told themselves that they'd say something when it became necessary, but there was no reason why that would happen anytime soon. It was likely that Jonnit would surpass them one day, but he still had a lot to learn.

Still, taking Jonnit as a Padawan and trusting him to handle himself on the ship or even during a battle was different than trusting him with secrets. It was weeks until Jonnit even found out about Travis' other shapes, and even then only because of necessity. And if it had been up to Gable, Jonnit definitely wouldn't have met Dref so soon. 

***

Gable said that if it had been Spit so grievously injured instead of Nodoze they wouldn't have risked visiting Dref. Secretly, they weren't one hundred percent sure if that was true – as annoying as Spit was, they had rather gotten used to him – but the point was moot anyway. Nodoze had been injured, Nodoze was close to death, and Nodoze dying was absolutely unacceptable.

"I told you the clones would be trouble," Travis said, and they almost growled at him. Travis raised his hands. "Just kidding. Have you decided what you're telling the kid yet?"

"That we're going to a doctor who's not officially licensed, because he's the best." Jonnit was a good Padawan and hadn't asked further questions.

"Well, that's not wrong," Travis said, but he looked skeptical. "Have you told Dref who you're bringing?" 

"…no."

"You haven't even told him we're coming, have you."

"He said not to contact him until it was absolutely necessary," Gable defended themselves. 

Travis sighed in exasperation. "Are you sure you don't want to leave Jonnit on a nearby space station? Or tell him to take one of the Birds out and explore some asteroids? Might be awkward if he walks around and stumbles upon the Captain."

"Orimar wouldn't hurt Jonnit," Gable said. 

"Sure, but what about the other way around? Kid's getting pretty good with a lightsaber," Travis said.

"Not that good," Gable said, shaking their head. "Maybe in a few decades." Considering Orimar's abilities, they felt that was a generous assessment.

***

Gable was definitely not worried, and that worry was definitely not distracting. It was just a coincidence that when the Uhuru arrived at Dref's station Gable first demanded that Dref heal Nodoze and forgot to tell him anything else. 

To be fair, that was the most important thing. Gable followed Dref and Nodoze and Wendell to the operating room, let Dref bully them out of it and away from standing guard at the door with the promise that Orimar would do it instead, and finally crashed and got some sleep.

When they returned, they found Jonnit chatting animatedly with Dref and realized with horror that they'd forgotten to explain the situation to Dref.

"G-g-g-gable," Dref greeted them. "The situation is u-u-under control."

"I see," Gable said. They looked around for Travis, but he was nowhere to be seen. 

"Gable!" Jonnit said excitedly, "You didn't tell me that Dref is a healer!" 

"I… no?" Gable looked at Dref, who gave a faintly apologetic shrug.

"I d-d-d-didn't know you had taken a P-P-Padawan," Dref said and took his glasses off to clean them.

"Yeah, it was the Council's idea, but it worked out great," Jonnit said cheerfully. 

Dref stared. "I see," he said. He looked at Gable. 

"He's not so bad," Gable admitted. 

Jonnit beamed like he understood what they meant.

***

Gable had never planned to tell Jonnit about their own history, or about Orimar Vale. How did you explain something like that? "I used to be the apprentice to one of the most notorious Sith who ever lived, but I killed him. That was centuries ago but I'm basically immortal. Much later I became the apprentice of Orimar Vale, who's technically not a Sith but a Darksider (the Jedi don't make much of a distinction between those nowadays) but he died too. Then I got a new identity and pretended to be a new Jedi Knight whose Master died (I picked a Jedi who'd gone missing, Travis helped, yes in a way this is all his fault, as all things tend to be) and one day I found out that Orimar wasn't dead, just in suspended animation, and Dref had discovered him and sort-of revived him? Also, he might not be evil at all anymore, it's hard to tell, he's not very talkative but he's very attached to Dref for some reason and we try not to ask any questions. I try to avoid him because it's awkward. So definitely don't tell anyone because they'd try to kill Orimar. Not that they could, but it would annoy him, which is always dangerous. Also, Dref is on the run from his family, who're all high up in the Banking Clan and making deals with the Separatists and I'm pretty sure the only reason they didn't put a bounty on his head is because his evil brother wants to kill him personally. Seriously, don't tell anyone."

It didn't generally come up. 

Travis hadn't told Jonnit about being a quasi-immortal shapeshifter either, Jonnit had just found out one day, and that had been fine. Clearly there was no need to burden him with these things in advance. That only made sense and had nothing whatsoever to do with Gable worrying what Jonnit's reaction would be.

Still, some days they were tempted to try and find out.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warnings: Order 66

Nodoze didn't know what to expect of General Gable when his battalion was assigned to them. None of this brothers had heard of them either. Maybe they were a Jedi who'd only recently been promoted, or someone who hadn't been on the battlefield before. Neither boded well for the crew of the Uhuru.

Then he met Gable. It wasn't long until he swore to himself to follow his General wherever they went.

When Travis Matagot first showed up at their ship, out of the blue in the middle of a mission, Nodoze would have shot him if the General hadn't diverted his shot. 

"Travis," his General said, motioning toward their men to stand down. Nodoze knew them well enough by now to hear the genuine fondness behind the put-upon annoyance. "What are you doing here, Matagot?"

"Figured I'd see what you're getting up. I never thought you'd end up a general," Matagot said with raised eyebrows. 

Nodoze bristled at the dismissive tone.

The General exhaled. "Yeah, me either." 

"Did they force you into it?" Matagot asked. He still appeared relaxed, but Nodoze could read the tension in his limbs. Apparently, Matagot was protective of Gable, which immediately made Nodoze regard him in a warmer light. 

"No," the General said. It didn't sound very convincing. "Anyway, what are you doing here?"

"I was in the area," Matagot blatantly lied. "Thought I'd say hello."

The General snorted. "Yeah, right. What are you up to?"

"Thought I might stick around for a while." 

Nodoze saw the brief smile on his General's face before they started scowling again. "This is a military ship, not a pleasure cruise, Matagot."

Matagot just shrugged.

Nodoze looked at him more closely. Matagot looked mostly human, though there was something about his features that meant Nodoze wouldn't be surprised to find out that he had other races in his ancestry. He was wearing a long coat that was clearly worn and used, but of excellent quality, and leather boots. The only visible weapon was a gun that Nodoze couldn't identify from a distance. 

Matagot had managed to approach them undetected, which spoke of some skill. A clone's face was too well-known, and having someone like Matagot along would help with information-gathering. Those were decent reasons; but Nodoze knew that the main reason he was considering it was because his General was glad to see the man. "We do have a free bunk since Ryan left," he said.

"See?" Matagot said, pointing at Nodoze. 

The General looked at Nodoze with confusion, but then shrugged. "Fine. You can have Ryan's bunk. Just don't get in our way on missions."

"Absolutely," Matagot promised with a smile that promised nothing of the sort.

Nodoze was already trying to anticipate how much interference by Matagot he would have to calculate with when planning missions from now on. However, he suspected that overall it would be worth it. His General could always use more people being protective of them instead of the other way around. Experience had shown that a whole ship's crew wasn't enough.

***

Nodoze shot his General, because that's what he was ordered to do, and Good Soldiers Follow Orders. But Nodoze didn't shoot Matagot, because Matagot wasn't a Jedi; and he didn't shoot the Commander, because as soon as the command had come the Commander had frozen, a spectral eye opening on his forehead, and after the General had been shot the Commander ran.

(Jonnit would blame himself for not saving Gable, later – if only he'd been a few seconds faster – but fortunately Travis quickly made him understand that that was nonsense.)

Nodoze shot his General, but only once. Nodoze was an excellent shot, and he knew that that bullet would have killed anyone. And if Nodoze at that point already strongly suspected that his General wasn't exactly anyone, that anybody else's mortal wound wouldn't stop them permanently – that was only conjecture. He'd still done his duty, and then he'd turned away to look for the Commander. It had taken longer to search the ship than it ever had before, and nobody had thought to secure the hangar or the General's ships, but accidents happened. And when he didn't see the General's body still lie there once he returned, he assumed that someone else must have already disposed of it, and didn't think on it any further.

***

When Gable woke up again they were in pain and being dragged along the floor by Travis.

"What the hell," they asked and then winced at another wave of pain.

Travis turned around quickly. "You're back. I knew you'd be back."

"Ow," Gable complained.

"Now's not the time for questions," Travis said, sounding uncharacteristically tense. "Can you walk?"

"No," but somehow Gable got to their feet and stumbled after Travis. 

With the help of Travis' "instincts" and a few Force tricks they managed to make their way to the hangar, where Jonnit had already prepared Flea. It was the largest of Gable's personal ships, though it wasn't designed for three people. Travis started the ship without waiting for clearance, ignored the calls from the Uhuru, and then jumped to hyperspace in the space of a few seconds. 

"What happened back there?" Jonnit demanded.

"I don't know," Gable said and then winced. Almost dying took a lot out of them, and they still had a massive headache.

"Something's really wrong!" 

"Obviously. Nodoze shot me," Gable complained. 

"Yes, that, but… I think something is wrong very, very badly," Jonnit insisted. "I think… many people died. And it's a lot Darker than before." 

Gable would take Jonnit's word for it. He was a lot better with that kind of Force stuff than they were. But they didn't want to think about what it might mean just yet, so they changed the topic. "Where are we going?" they asked.

Travis shrugged. "Dref."

"Dref? Why?"

"If something is that wrong, I'm not sure which other places are safe anymore."

"But the crew knows where Dref lives."

"All the more reason to warn him, isn't it?"

The idea of having to warn Dref away from their crew – but then, until a short time ago Gable would never have thought that Nodoze would shoot them.

"Okay. Let's go see Dref."

***

Dref told them what had happened: the Jedi being declared traitors that were to be killed on sight, and Supreme Chancellor Palpatine declaring himself Emperor.

"I never liked that guy," Travis said. 

Jonnit had sunk to the floor, clutching his head in his hands. 

"That doesn't make any sense," Gable protested. It was too big, and so they focused on the information that seemed most immediately relevant. "Even if they got the order, I can't believe the clone troopers would all just turn on the Jedi like that. Nodoze shot me!" 

"S-s-some kind of mind control, maybe," Dref said. 

"At that distance? And didn't you say it was all of them?"

Dref shrugged. "It's ha-ha-hard to say, without data," and he went on to explain that while he did treat several of their crew, he didn't do an in-depth examination close enough to be able to rely on them. 

Clearly, they had to go to Kamino and get the necessary information themselves. 

Gable tried not to think about what their crew was doing in the meantime. Whoever used them might not have a use for them any longer, now that their task was done. Or, maybe even worse, they might have more uses planned for them. Even with Gable and Jonnit with them, and unofficially Travis as well, the Uhuru had been assigned missions that had infuriated Gable because of their obvious disregard for their crew's lives. They had to figure this out quickly, otherwise there might not be any crew of theirs left to save. 

***

Dref would come with them to Kamino, even though he hated it: he wasn't especially good at sneaking, and being surrounded by thousands of potentially hostile clone troopers was very stressful. But he was their best chance to find the relevant data, and he did want to figure out what had happened to the clones. He hadn't spent much time with them, but they'd gotten along. He and Wendell had almost been friends. Dref wanted to figure out what happened to them, and ideally help them, more than he feared danger, which was good. Besides, Orimar would protect him.

The entire time, Gable tried to avoid Orimar as much as possible. Even Travis noticed. Gable wasn't even completely sure themself why they did it. Orimar had taught them a lot, but that had been a long time ago. They hadn't even spent that much time with him, back then, and they'd already been an adult. The idea that Gable might be worried about what Orimar thought of them was clearly ridiculous. Nevertheless, they were grateful that Orimar only watched them, but never forced a confrontation.

It was Gable who forgot and let Orimar's full name slip during a planning session, and so Jonnit finally found out his identity. 

"Okay," Jonnit said. "You're really strong, right? You can help us save our friends." 

Orimar nodded gravely. And that was that, apparently. 

"I can feel Light in him," Jonnit only said, when Gable tentatively mentioned it afterwards. "Dref trusts him. And he can help. We'll need all the help we can get." 

***

Things did not go smoothly – when did they ever – but in the end Dref found out what had happened to the clones, they killed some of the scientists responsible, and then got away with only minor injuries.

The question was what to do next. 

What they knew for sure was that the clones had chips in their brains that compelled them to follow orders, that the order to kill the Jedi must have been given, and that the only person capable of giving that order was the Supreme Chancellor. 

As Dref pointed out, that didn't necessarily mean that the Supreme Chancellor was a bad guy, as Travis put it. Maybe someone had tricked him into believing that the Jedi were all traitors; maybe the Chancellor was under the direct influence of the Sith. But on the other hand, a Sith would find it much more appealing to rule on their own instead of installing a puppet ruler. And Palpatine did seem very enthusiastic about declaring himself Emperor.

"They're going to try to arrest us after we kill the Emperor," Travis said blithely.

"Who said we're going to kill the Emperor?" Gable asked, and then sighed, conceding, when Travis only raised an eyebrow. "Fine," they said. "But first we need our crew back."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Turns out the epilogue is the hardest part so there will be one more chapter after this one.

Jonnit had known for as long as he remembered that he was destined for great things. It wasn't a vision, precisely, but a certainty he felt every time he touched the Force. Some days it was pressure, but most days it was reassuring: one day, he'd do something great. 

Killing an evil Sith emperor sounded like it would fit perfectly. What could be a greater destiny than destroying the Sith? 

The idea was, admittedly, scary. Palpatine must be a masterful fighter, and Jonnit was only a padawan. He was good, but not as good as Gable or Orimar. What if Jonnit tried to fight Palpatine and got in Gable's way? That would be embarrassing. And dangerous, of course, but mostly embarrassing. Travis would never let him live it down. Gable would shake it off and never mention it again and Nodoze would be disappointed, which would be even worse. 

It was probably best if Jonnit kept to the plan, and only interfered it the Force told him it was his time. 

He wasn't sure if he wished or dreaded that it would come to that.

***

Dref didn't know how exactly the chips worked: they could give specific commands, but there also seemed to be an element of larger scale brain reformatting. It was hard to say. They'd have to ask someone after he'd been freed.

"Nodoze first," Gable demanded, and nobody disagreed.

Eventually, they decided to exploit Nodoze's desire to be at the front of a hunt. They'd spread a rumor that Gable had been sighted on a planet near the Uhuru, somewhere Travis could hide well, and once Nodoze arrived Travis would shoot him and knock him out.

They'd capture Nodoze, get him back to Dref's station, and Dref would take the chip out. And that would revert all the commands and everything the chip had done. It had to, because Dref had said he didn't know what he could do if it didn't, and that alternative was unacceptable.

***

It was strange to see Nodoze asleep. The last and only time any of them had seen Nodoze unconscious was when he'd been grievously injured.

Dref said it was a bad idea to wake him up after his surgery: it would be better for him to wake up on his own, which could happen at any point in the next 24 hours. Gable waffled between wanting to be there when he woke up, and knowing how utterly bored they'd be just sitting there, so in the end they went to the nearest empty room to train while knowing that they were utter shit at anything because most of their mind was focused on when Nodoze woke up.

When he did, they were there almost immediately.

Nodoze was already sitting up in his bed and looking around in confusion. "General," he said in relief when he saw them. "Where are we?"

"What do you remember?" Gable asked instead. 

Nodoze frowned. Then he suddenly paled, flinching back. "General. Why did I… how… I swear, I would never…"

"I know," Gable said. "It wasn't your fault." It was a relief to see his eyes clear again, not empty and hard as they had been before he had shot Gable. His mind had been absolutely focused, but in those few seconds they hadn't noticed anything different from how he was on missions.

"I shot you!" 

"You were being mind-controlled. You didn't have a choice."

"I- oh." He squeezed his eyes shut for a long moment and then opened them again. "Is the Commander…"

"Jonnit's fine. He ran while you shot me, and he and Travis escaped to one of my ships. I got there too after you conveniently left me for dead–" Nodoze flinched again, and Gable tried to reassure him: "No, no, I appreciate it. Not the shooting, but that it was only one shot. It could have been worse."

"It will never happen again, General," Nodoze swore.

"Good!"

***

Nodoze told them everything he remembered about the effects of the chip. Dref said it sounded like even if they killed the Emperor, the effects wouldn't immediately fade, and the forced obedience might automatically transfer to the next person to take office. They didn't know if Sidious had already prepared an heir. Still, it was unlikely that the next person would be a Sith Lord too, so that would already be an improvement. And it would be much easier to accomplish freeing every clone from their chips once the mastermind behind the war was dead. 

They were on the clock. Clones were already sent out to hunt down Jedi who'd managed to escape, so the faster they could put a stop to that the better. 

Dref pointed out that fighting a Sith Lord would be very dangerous. 

Gable shrugged. "So am I." 

***

They'd need the whole crew to get close enough to the Emperor.

"Even Spit?" Travis asked, groaning.

Gable wished they could say no. Unfortunately, Spit could be very competent when he had to be. And in this case, even Spit would be very motivated.

Fortunately, it was easy to steal the crew back, now that they had Nodoze. Nodoze had been reported missing, but it was completely in character for him to have freed himself and come back on his own (with Travis, who had turned small enough to hide in a coat, as hidden backup, just in case) and then when he was back on the ship he just released the sleeping gas Dref had prepared, bound everyone while they were sleeping, and flew the ship back to Dref's base. There was a small chance that someone could notice that the Uhuru wasn't where it was supposed to be, but with all the chaos after the destruction of the Jedi order it was unlikely that anyone would actually check, much less act. 

And if they did – well. Gable certainly wasn't going to let anyone touch their crew ever again. Neither was Jonnit. And even Travis and Dref were more attached than they wanted to admit, Gable could tell. 

***

"And Jonnit stays outside to guard the door."

"I can help!" Jonnit objected.

"No," Gable said, without a moment's pause.

"I can!" Jonnit protested. "I'm strong too! You know that!"

"You're good," Gable allowed. "But not that good. Not even I would face Palpatine alone, without Orimar. And the only reason why Orimar and I have a chance is because we're used to working together."

"We're used to working together too!"

"You and me, yes. But you've never fought with Orimar before. You'll get in each other's way. Or Palpatine is going to use you as a distraction."

"I can…"

"Palpatine killed several Jedi Council members! You can't do anything!" Gable hadn't known any of them well, since they'd spent a lot of time trying to stay away from Coruscant, unsure how well their cover story would actually hold up. But Mace and Kit had been friendly, and Agen Kolar had been a good sparring partner.

"You don't know that! What if…" His eyes unfocused.

Gable knew the signs. They sighed. "You're not having a vision."

"Hey, I could have a vision!"

"If you had a vision about this, I'd know," Gable said, unimpressed. Jonnit was strong, and every Jedi's connection to the Force was unique, but they did have some talents of their own for perceiving the waves of the future.

***

The Uhuru got close to the now-called Imperial Palace without arousing suspicion, but they didn't make it very far inside until the fighting started. Gable and Orimar were in front, Travis and Jonnit close behind them, Dref between them in case they needed him to blow doors open or figure out how the security system Palpatine had bought from the Youngbloods operated. 

It was inevitable that some of the clone troopers Palpatine had brainwashed were killed. Nodoze said their brothers would understand.

Travis found out that the Emperor was in what was now called the throne room, which was fitting. Orimar and Gable went in, while Travis, Jonnit, and Nodoze prepared to defend the door.

Then another Sith appeared at the end of the hallway, with a dramatic black mask and cape and glowing red lightsaber. His face wasn't visible, but Jonnit knew that they were looking at each other.

"Travis, Nodoze, take Dref. I'll handle this," Jonnit said without turning his head.

"Don't get yourself killed, Gable would be annoyed," Travis said. Even he sounded tense. But even though they might like to help him, both he and Nodoze realized that they didn't stand a chance in a straight on fight against a Sith, and so they ran off into another hallway with Dref. Jonnit was fairly certain that Travis was just looking for a way to double back and attack the Sith from behind.

"You will die like the others," the Sith said in a mechanical sounding voice as he came closer.

"I won't," Jonnit promised, his own saber raised. This was his fight, the Force thrummed in his bones, and he knew he wouldn't lose.

***

The Sith was bigger and stronger than Jonnit, and a much more experienced fighter. In the first few moments of their fight Jonnit was always just a hair away from being defeated. Jonnit had fought Jedi knights other than Gable before, but this Sith was better than any of them had been. If it hadn't been Gable who'd trained him, he knew he wouldn't have stood a chance.

Jonnit was smaller and weaker, but he was faster. All his eyes were open, and the Force flowed through him. He always managed to block or evade the Sith's strikes just in time. The Sith's movements were oddly jerky and almost unbalanced at times, as if he was injured.

Jonnit sent a quick mental thank-you to whomever had fought this Sith before him and managed to land a hit.

The Sith had clearly expected a quick victory and became frustrated when he didn't manage that. His attacks became more forceful and reckless, and the Dark around him more oppressive. Jonnit almost expected sparks of Force lightning, but none appeared. The blue and the red lightsabers hummed and crashed against each other in the almost empty hallway, and for a second Jonnit thought that there really ought to be dramatic battle music.

He could feel himself tiring. But he focused his mind on the fact that he had to win, and on the clear knowledge that he would win, and stood firm. 

***

Jonnit stumbled when he was hit by a shockwave in the Force. He thought he heard a shriek, and he knew something was gone, something heavy and oppressive. "The Emperor is dead," Jonnit realized and laughed. They did it.

"No," the Sith growled. 

"Yes. Can't you feel it? He's gone. You've lost."

"No! He can't have been defeated!" The Sith sounded both angry and lost. The Force was a chaotic storm around him that made Jonnit dizzy when he tried to concentrate on it.

"You've lost," Jonnit repeated. "And everything you've done for him? It was for nothing."

"No!" The Sith attacked again, his strikes even more powerful than before, but sloppy and unfocused. 

"You were a Jedi, weren't you?" Jonnit asked. He recognized the lightsaber forms. "How does it feel to have betrayed the order for someone who was defeated so soon? Doesn't seem like a smart decision to me." 

The Sith roared in rage and aimed at Jonnit's heart, and Jonnit used the opening he'd left to cut off the Sith's arm. It was harder than he'd expected, and when it fell to the ground Jonnit realized that it had already been a prosthesis. 

"You," the Sith hissed through his mask.

"Surrender," Jonnit demanded. 

Instead, the Sith shoved Jonnit backwards and then ran.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What happened after.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content notes: mentions of mass suicides.

"They really should have paid us more," Travis said, months later, in the Uhuru's crew lounge.

"What, being a hero of the Empire-slash-Republic-slash-'ask us what we are next year' isn't enough for you?" Gable raised their eyebrows.

"I'm just saying, the next time we have to save everyone's asses it would be nice to have a more stylish coat."

Gable snorted and didn't disagree. 

It had been annoying to have been hunted as traitors and criminals, but it hadn't been long until Palpatine's corruption had been uncovered and suddenly there were plans to give them medals. It had taken them weeks to believe that it wasn't a trick. Since then they had all learned that while there were advantages to a heroic reputation, being recognized everywhere they went had quickly become annoying. At least Travis would find it easier to change his appearance, if he didn't think that kind of thing was beneath him. 

"Tell that to Jonnit," Gable said finally. "Vader has a cloak, Jonnit should get one too so they can match."

Jonnit looked up from his datapad and presumably his texting with Dref. "No capes," Jonnit said firmly.

"But you'd look so good in one!" Travis countered immediately. "The last time he found us was about two weeks ago, right? So we have about a month to find a spectacular cape for Jonnit before their next duel."

"No!"

"I have been told that losing cloaks is something of a tradition among Jedi," said Nodoze, who'd approached them in his customary silent way.

"See?" Travis said smugly.

Jonnit looked at Gable. "I think we can make our own traditions at this point," Gable said. More Jedi had survived the purge than they'd initially feared, but the once big order had shrunk to a fraction of its size. 

"There is a message for you from the Temple in Coruscant," Nodoze reported to Gable, who groaned.

"When will they stop trying to get me to join the Council?"

"You did defeat the Emperor," Nodoze pointed out.

"I should have blamed Orimar," Gable grumbled. 

***

After they killed Palpatine, it still took years to free the clones. The Republic was re-established under Chancellor Bail Organa, the extent of all the manipulations and corruption led by Palpatine was slowly coming to light, and a peace treaty was pursued with the Separatists. The Uhuru was still officially part of the GAR, and their actions meant that their appearance had _symbolism_ now, so they were often sent on special missions and/or to accompany diplomatic envoys. It was hard work, and more than once Gable had been tempted to cut a lengthy trial short and deal with other corrupt politicians or businesspeople etc. the same way they had dealt with Palpatine. 

Most of the surviving Jedi returned to Coruscant to rebuild the Order. Conveniently, two Council members had survived; but the Jedi Order could never be the same again. Traditions had to change now that their number was so reduced. 

Vader kept chasing after them; more specifically, after Jonnit. Jonnit kept defeating him, and Vader kept losing it. It would be amusing, if that wasn't the guy who'd practically eliminated the entire Jedi Order and killed the younglings in the temple.

De-chipping the clones had started almost immediately. Even the senators who secretly might not have minded an army of mind-controlled slaves were persuaded by the argument that the chips could be hacked and that army turned against them. That it took that kind of argument to persuade them was infuriating, but Nodoze and his brothers didn't even seem surprised. The de-chipping was a slow process because it quickly became apparent that extensive therapy afterwards was an absolute necessity, and even then too many clones ultimately couldn't live with what they had been made to do. 

***

And then the war was coming to an end. Gable didn't think about what would come next, except when they did. 

They didn't worry about Travis. Travis would just… they assumed that Travis would stick around. If not all the time, then often enough. They had been close before the war and the bond between them, that they were only willing to call friendship when they were both very drunk, had only grown stronger.

Jonnit was still their padawan, so until Gable knighted him Jonnit was obligated to stick around. Afterwards, however, he'd get his own assignments from the Council and they might not meet each other for years. Gable carefully didn't think about that either. Jonnit might be more talented than many knights had been, but he clearly still needed many years of training. Fortunately he didn't seem in a hurry to get knighted either, and nobody else dared to suggest it to Gable. 

Dref was on his medical station, and Gable was unfortunately convinced that even after the war they would have to visit him every once in a while. And even if not – the station wasn't that far out of the way, they could visit. Orimar would be there too, in case they ever got the desire to talk to him.

The Uhuru, however… 

Clones would be free to do whatever they wanted. In theory, that included staying in the army, but after the war was over there wouldn't be a need for a huge army. There were already plans for large education programs to help them transition into civilian life. Several Uhuru crew members had already talked about careers they were interested in.

Not all of them, however. Nodoze hadn't said anything so far. And Gable hadn't asked.

"You know, you should probably be up for a promotion," Gable realized one day when they were sitting down for lunch next to Nodoze.

"General?" Nodoze asked.

"Will I even still be a general?" If the war was over, the Jedi weren't needed to lead armies anymore, so probably not.

"Probably not, right?" Jonnit said, sitting down with a full plate. "No reason for it, if the war is over."

"I see," Nodoze said. 

Gable squinted at him. He seemed unhappy. 

"What will you do?" Jonnit asked Nodoze frankly.

"I had thought to stay on the Uhuru," Nodoze said. "But I will have to await the decision regarding its new leadership before I make my decision."

"New leadership?" Travis asked, joining them. "What new leadership? This is our ship."

"Technically, it's not," Gable felt compelled to point out. "It still belongs to the Republic."

Travis frowned. "Well tell them we're keeping it." 

"I don't think it's that simple."

"They keep saying that there's 'symbolism'," Travis gestured, "because we're heroes, right? So they should let us keep the ship. Tell that Organa guy that he owes us."

"The Uhuru would be very useful for future missions," Jonnit pointed out. "I'm sure the Council would agree. And of course we'll need the crew, too."

"And if they don't agree, we'll just have to steal the ship," Travis said blithely. "I would be an excellent space pirate."

"You can't just steal the Uhuru, Travis," Jonnit said with exasperation. 

"Of course I can!"

"You need to at least ask the crew first."

"I do not think that the crew would object," Nodoze said. He was smiling.

"Okay then," Jonnit said.

"So, what say you, captain Gable?" Travis asked with a grin.

Feeling thoroughly blindsided, Gable stared at them. "You want us to leave the army and the Order, commit treason, and become space pirates?" they asked incredulously. 

"Yep," Travis said. 

"Only if it's necessary," Jonnit said in a voice that sounded almost reasonable. "Maybe they'll let us keep the Uhuru anyway!"

"Regardless, I would be honored to continue to fight at your side, captain," Nodoze said.

Gable looked back at the people they were closest too, felt their trust and determination, and could do nothing else but nod. "Alright." 

They kept the Uhuru.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finished in 2020! I had fun with this. Happy New Year :)


End file.
